Accenture Careers Overview

This article presents an overview of Accenture careers. In the United States, an implicit rule is that the leading strategy consulting firms McKinsey, The Boston Consulting Group and Bain do not directly hire from former Accenture consultants. Across the Atlantic, it is necessary to get an MBA or to build experience in other consulting firms better seen by the top-tier companies.

What Careers Are Available at Accenture?

The main risk for certain profiles is to be labeled as IT specialists after an experience at Accenture. Again, the situation is different in Europe – I personnally train lots of former Accenture consultants for the MBB. This is a career path that won the support of all concerned candidates who wish to pursue a career in technical consulting. For example, if you want to start your consulting career after an engineering background, then Accenture is a path that could well fit your career plan. Accenture has an excellent brand image, and also the transition from your previous career and your future career will be extremely smooth.

The career track at Accenture begins with the “Analyst” position. After a few years of experience, one becomes a Consultant, then Manager, then Senior Manager and finally Managing Director and Partner.

Accenture Internships

In regards to internships, at Accenture investment and remuneration of trainees are comparable to that of the other consulting firms of its rank. In terms of image, Accenture is clearly a firm that I classify in “category 2,” with excellent visibility and a strong network to begin the next steps in one’s career with confidence. Internship opportunities at Accenture cover management consulting, strategy consulting, and obviously technical consulting. During an internship, the candidate will be introduced to the role and responsibilities of an Analyst or even a Consultant. Accenture presents its internships as springboards for full-time positions within the company.

Note : Accenture has a specific internship program dedicated to the NGO sector.

Finally, Accenture has implemented specific training for this trainee’s level. The firm has, for example, a Management Consulting University and Strategy College. This video illustrates the conditions of placements at Accenture in Ireland :

Accenture Salaries

With regard to wages, a consultant starts a few thousand Euros lower per year than at McKinsey, BCG, or Bain. There is nothing surprising: compensation is comparable to that offered in the cabinets of “categorie 2.” However, the evolution of salary is lower than the average. It must be remembered that in the consulting sector, wage evolution is much faster than elsewhere. For instance, an annual increase around 10-20% of a given salary is nothing extraordinary. At Accenture, you can expect rather increases which revolve around 4-5%. It is this that probably contributes to the high turnover in this firm.

In the United States, where career plans are much faster than in France, Accenture is seen as a firm of passage in which consultants are not, for the majority, projecting themselves on long-term. Basically, it is to use the name and the excellent network to rebound to more lucrative and more attractive careers. For Accenture interviews, you thus need to carefully prepare the answers to classical questions around “your long term objectives.” As most consultants anticipate long-term careers outside the firm, be careful to not appear as an “opportunistic” candidate; because nothing is more dangerous for a candidate to appear as “opportunistic.”

Conscious of its image among young consultants, Accenture invests a lot to retain young talent. For example, one of the disadvantages of these large firms resides in the often impersonal supervision of consultants. To remedy this, Accenture offers a program of mentoring for young consultants by experienced consultants. Each new recruit may, thus, have personalized advice on his career, his training, and his staffing on the projects coming from senior employees. Accenture also offers different career paths, for example, the Capability Network was set-up as a network of consultants in Asia, Europe and Latin America dedicated to provide expert support to local teams working on projects.